Roy Burston

Sir Samuel Roy Burston (21 March 1888 – 21 August 1960) was an Australian soldier, physician, and horse racing identity.

The son of James Burston, a prominent Melbourne soldier and businessman, Burston graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 1910. After graduation, he worked with children at the Adelaide Children's Hospital and Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

Having served with the Militia from an early age, he obtained a commission in the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1912 and served as a medical officer in the Gallipoli campaign and on the Western Front during World War I. Burston was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for supervising an advanced dressing station under fire during the Battle of Messines. After the war he became a foundation Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. During World War II he served as Director of Medical Services in the Middle East and Director General of Medical Services in Australia with the rank of major general. The 9th Division was withdrawn from the Siege of Tobruk on his medical advice. He remained Director General of Medical Services until 1948. In 1945, he became Chief Commissioner of St John Ambulance Australia, serving until 1957,

Burston was involved in thoroughbred racing both as a punter and as a racehorse owner. He served as Chairman of the Moonee Valley Racing Club from 1952 until his death in 1960. Burston made the W S Cox Plate the richest weight for age race in Australia, and he oversaw the construction of the Burston Grandstand, which was named in his honour.

Education and early life Samuel Roy Burston was born in Melbourne on 21 March 1888, the fourth of seven children to James Burston, a businessman who served as Lord Mayor of Melbourne from 1908 to 1910, and his wife Marianne, née McBean. Roy always preferred to be known by his first name rather than as Samuel, which was the name of his grandfather. The family lived in Flinders Street, Melbourne and later in Hawthorn, Victoria. James Burston would go on to command the 7th Infantry Brigade in the Gallipoli Campaign and rise to the rank of major general. Roy was educated at Melbourne Grammar School, where he acquired the nickname "Ginger" after his red hair. He joined the Victorian Military Forces as a bugler in 1900, serving with them and the Australian Military Forces until 1905.

After graduating from Melbourne Grammar in 1903, Burston entered University of Melbourne in 1905, where he lived at Trinity College and studied medicine. He graduated with his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degrees in June 1910, and soon after his graduation he became a resident medical officer at Adelaide Children's Hospital. He returned to Adelaide where he married Helen Elizabeth Culross on 16 April 1913 in St Michael's Anglican Church at Mitcham, South Australia. He took up general practice in Mile End, South Australia.

World War I Burston joined the Australian Imperial Force as a major in the 4th Light Horse Field Ambulance on 26 March 1915. Burston remained in hospital until September 1916, when he was posted to the 11th Field Ambulance, part of the 3rd Division, then training at Larkhill in England. He moved to France with this unit on 24 November 1916. For his conduct supervising an advanced dressing station the Battle of Messines, Burston was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His citation, signed by Major General John Monash, read:

Later that month, Burston was appointed senior medical officer at the Australian General Base Depot at Le Havre with the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel. He returned to Australia aboard the Orsova on 22 November 1919. In 1933, he travelled to Scotland to further his medical knowledge, and become a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. On returning to Australia, he became an honorary physician at Royal Adelaide Hospital. He also began lecturing at the University of Adelaide. He was a district officer of the St John Ambulance Brigade, and vice president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Nursing Federation. In 1937 he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and then one of the 41 foundation Fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1938. He was also honorary physician to the Governor-General from 1 July 1939 to 11 February 1943. A tall man at , He had three children: Samuel Gerald Wood (Sam) Burston became a grazier; Robin Archibald (Bob) Burston became a physician like his father; and Helen Elizabeth (Betty), who married Chris Sangster, an Adelaide physician on 12 January 1939. Both sons and son in law would serve in the Army during the Second World War.

World War II

Middle East Embarkation for the Middle East. Left to right: Brigadier Rowell, Colonel Burston, Major Knight and General Blamey. In October 1939, the Director General of Medical Services (DGMS), Major General Rupert Downes, tapped Burston for the post of Assistant Director of Medical Services (ADMS) of the 6th Division. As such, he was promoted to Brigadier on 1 July 1940. In November, Blamey organised a Headquarters, AIF in the Middle East and appointed Burston as its Director of Medical Services (DMS). The Australian Government had appointed Major General Rupert Downes to this post, but it deferred to Blamey. Burston was promoted to Major General on 16 February 1941.

His participation in the Battle of Greece was of brief duration; he embarked on 10 April 1941 and was back less than two weeks later.

In July 1941, Burston reported that Australians on leave in Cairo from the Siege of Tobruk were underweight, and expressed doubts that the 9th Division might have the physical stamina to resist an attack. Burston and Colonel Neil Hamilton Fairley met with the 9th Division's commander, Major General Leslie Morshead, as did Blamey, with the result that Blamey sought its relief. This led to showdowns first between Blamey and General Sir Claude Auchinleck, and then between the British and Australian governments. Burston was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 14 April 1942; his citation, written by Blamey, read: Since the inception of the AIF in October 1939, Major General Burston has held the senior medical appointment in the AIF. He has been responsible for the organisation, training and administration of the medical services of the AIF in their entirety. The efficient medical arrangements at present existing in the AIF in the Middle East are due to his enthusiasm, tireless energy, far-sightedness, and administrative ability.

The 1942 Papuan campaign threw up a host of serious medical problems. The poor diet, mainly caused by the difficulty of supply by air or over jungle tracks, caused malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. Poor hygiene led to dysentery. Malaria was hyperendemic, and when Fairley and Mackerras visited Papua in June 1942 they found high rates of infection among the troops even before the fighting had begun. At Milne Bay the incidence was so high in September 1942 that it looked like the garrison would be wiped out in a matter of months. The biggest killer, though, was typhus. Of the 2,839 soldiers who came down with it, 257 (9 percent) died. It fell to Burston promulgate the policies and practices that diminished the danger from disease and allowed the Australian Army to fight in New Guinea.

In April 1945, Burston visited South East Asia Command, and then travelled to the United Kingdom, He was returning to Australia when the war ended. He became Chief Commissioner of St John Ambulance Australia in March 1945, serving until 1957, after which he became Receiver-General of the Priory in Australia. and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

Blamey recommended Burston for a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in September 1945, along with Frank Berryman, James Cannan, John Northcott, Jack Stevens and George Wootten. The recommendation was turned down by the Labor government as it was not Labor Party policy to award knighthoods at this time. Following the election of the coalition government in the 1949 election, Blamey wrote to the new Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, again requesting honours for his generals. This time he was successful, and Burston was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (military division) in 1952.

Burston remained DGMS after the war. In the immediate post-war period, he was responsible for the demobilisation of the Army Medical Services, and for providing medical support to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. Criticism of the medical arrangements, which Burston felt might lead to the force being prematurely withdrawn, led to Burston being publicly rebuked by the Army Minister, Cyril Chambers. Burston retired as DGMS and from the Army in 1948, handing over to Kingsley Norris. He served as honorary colonel of the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps from 1952 to 1957. Burston served as director of several companies, including David Syme & Co. (the publisher of The Age newspaper), Western Mining Corporation, Great Western Consolidated, New Coolgardie, and Koolgardie Southern. He was a medical advisor to the Australian Red Cross and National Mutual Life Association. In 1956, Burston announced a long range plan to increase the prize money to £10,000, although this would not be achieved until 1964. Crowds at the race meetings at Moonee Valley had fallen from an average of 35,000 per meeting in 1948–49 to 25,000 in 1952–53. He was survived by his daughter Elizabeth, who was married to Dr Christopher Sangster, an Adelaide physician, and his sons Samuel (later Sir Samuel Burston), a pastoralist in the Western District of Victoria, and Robin, a physician at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide. Burston's remains were cremated at the Springvale Crematorium, and his ashes were placed with those of Helen, who had died in 1958, in the gardens there. Another, by Sir Ivor Hele, is held by the Australian War Memorial.